Walmart will make its mark in Horizon City

Horizon City mayor Walter Miller stands on a 27 acre site across Horizon Blvd. from the town hall Thursday. The site is being prepared for a new Walmart super center and adjoining retail spaces. (Rudy Gutierrez/El Paso Times)

Wherever Walmart opens a store, people take notice.

But it's even bigger news in Horizon City, the growing community on the outskirts of El Paso's burgeoning East Side.

"It's the first significant, major retailer to locate here. It's as if the town has arrived as a community," said Horizon City Mayor Walter Miller.

Ground was broken last week for construction of a 180,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter at Horizon Boulevard and Darrington Road in the heart of Horizon City. It's expected to open next fall.

The store's sales will almost double the town's current sales tax revenue, and that alone makes it a significant development, Miller said.

REPORTER

Vic Kolenc

The mayor said he expects Walmart to draw other new retailers and restaurants to the town, just as it has done in El Paso neighborhoods, and elsewhere.

The world's largest retailer already has a big footprint in the El Paso area.

It operates eight supercenters, six Neighborhood Markets, and three Sam's Clubs in El Paso County, employing several thousand people and generating millions of dollars in sales taxes for the state and local governments.

It opened three new stores in El Paso County this year. It also has two Supercenters, and one Sam's Club in Las Cruces, El Paso's New Mexico neighbor.

The Horizon City Supercenter will employ about 300 full- and part-time employees, a Walmart spokesman reported.

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It will bring a second, larger supermarket to the town of more than 17,000 people. Thousands of other people live in neighborhoods popping up on the edges of Horizon City.

Vista Markets, a seven-store El Paso supermarket chain, operates one of its Hispanic-focused supermarkets in a small shopping center at 121 N. Kenazo, less than a mile from the new Walmart site. The 45,000-square-foot store has been the town's only big supermarket for 15 years. It was remodeled about a year ago.

Mike Peña, co-founder and president of Vista, said competing with Walmart is not new for his company.

"Most of our stores are close to Walmarts now. Walmart opened a Neighborhood Market (this year) close to our Socorro store. We probably lost about 10 percent of our (Socorro) customers, but we see them coming back," Peña said.

Vista's produce, meat market, tortilleria and prepared food court make it different from Walmart, Peña said.

"There are two different choices for customers" with Walmart moving into Horizon City, Peña said.

Araceli Rodriguez, a 34-year-old mother of three, who was shopping last week at the Horizon Vista Market, said she's looking forward to Walmart moving into the town where her family has lived for two years. "We need a Walmart here," Rodriguez said. "I do most of my (grocery) shopping here, but the prices are better at Walmart."

A sign announces a Walmart store to come at the corner of Horizon Blvd. and Darrington in Horizon City.

Rodriguez sometimes shops at Walmarts in El Paso, but the problem is it takes 20 to 25 minutes to drive to one, she said.

"I will still shop here (Vista) for their flour tortillas and cakes" when the new Walmart opens, Rodriguez added.

The Horizon City mayor said he has some concerns about the new Walmart hurting local businesses.

"But that's the world we are living in, and everyone has to compete with Walmart," Miller said. "There has to be some adjustment (by local stores), but I don't think it will be too severe."

Horizon City has several small strip shopping centers, with the largest concentration in the Horizon Boulevard-Kenazo Avenue area. The small centers have a variety of small, local and national franchised stores, and service providers. Family Dollar and Dollar General stores operate in that area. A Walgreens and Burger King are located across the street from the Vista Market, as is a small, local meat market.

The new Walmart will sit on a 25-acre site at the intersection of Horizon and Darrington. The Horizon Town Hall and McDonald's are on corners opposite the Walmart site.

A piece of an old, partly developed industrial park is on one edge of the Walmart site. Mayor Miller said he'd like to see the industrial park be completed and rejuvenated with money from a new Horizon economic development tax.

Southwest Land Development Services, an El Paso development company, which has developed thousands of acres of residential and commercial land on the East Side over decades, owns a part of about 300 acres of developable land at Horizon and Darrington, said Michelle Padilla, Horizon City planning director. The land is part of 600 acres annexed into Horizon City in late 2007.

Walmart bought almost 21 acres of that land for its store, Padilla said. Southwest owns almost four of the other acres making up the Walmart site, and it's expected to develop more retail spaces there, she said. Southwest also owns other parts of the 300 acres, she said.

Miller said Southwest recruited Walmart to Horizon City.

Doug Schwartz, Southwest CEO, was unavailable for comments last week about his company's plans for that area.

Southwest developed a small retail center, and fast-food restaurant locations, at another Walmart Supercenter site on Montana and Joe Battle in El Paso, where a Lowe's home improvement store is also located.

That Walmart opened in fall 2010, and was one of the things that prompted Carmike Cinemas, a national movie theater chain, to pick vacant land across from the store as the location for its second El Paso movie theater. Dirt work began last week on that site, a Carmike official reported.

The Carmike site is part of more than 200 acres an El Paso businessman plans to develop into a large retail and residential community.

In Horizon City, more than 100 acres of vacant land are on two sites across Horizon Boulevard from the Walmart site.

Almost nine vacant acres are at the Horizon City Town Hall site, including 5.5 acres owned by the town. A businessman owns the other three acres there.

An additional 100 acres across the street from the Town Hall was divided into many small lots and sold to many people years ago when Horizon City was just beginning, Mayor Miller reported. A state law aimed at stopping development of poor, waterless colonias makes it difficult to sell those lots, he said.

Even so, the new Walmart should bring "a whole lot more interest in available commercial property" near the store, Miller said.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at vkolenc@elpasotimes.com, 546-6421. Follow him on Twitter @vickolencMore information: horizoncity.org; http://news.walmart.com

Horizon City facts

Population: 5,233 in 2000; estimated 17,161 in 2011.

Median household income: $49,621 in 2011, compared with $39,442 in city of El Paso.

Businesses: Just over 700 in 2007, latest year available.

Retail sales: $15.1 million in 2007, latest year available, compared to $7.9 billion in city of El Paso.